A Communion of Solitude and Sound
Clouds, Angel of Damnation, Void Moon, Mourners Lament, Ditch, Hemplifier, Kielkropf, Wooden Veins, The Devastation, Dúath
Doom Over Vienna XIX, Escape Metalcorner Wien, Austria 20251107-08
“Doom is for those whose hearts beat slower”. These words, proclaimed by the vocalist of Mourners Lament midway through their set on the festival’s first day, did more than just introduce the next song: they expressed the latent ethos of an entire scene. Indeed, this motto was palpable all around, including similar statements on some attendees’ T-shirts. According to my research, the phrase can be traced back to the back cover of Mournful Congregation’s 2009 album, The June Frost. This emotional and, to some extent, physiological connection to doom metal’s slow sonic pace is key because it fosters a sense of identification among fans of a genre so often characterised by themes of loneliness and isolation. This fascinating and overwhelming paradox of doom metal between community and solitude was, in fact, at the very heart of the Doom Over Vienna experience. So let’s start from the beginning.
First day (7 November)
After arriving at Escape just after 19:00, getting the official festival T-shirt, and greeting some of the guys from Mourners Lament, I hurried down to the basement to catch the opening act, the local band Dúath. With a lineup of two guitars, bass, drums, and a keyboard that shifted between piano and organ sounds, the band provided a great performance in the vein of their more melodic doom style. The last song of their set, “We Will Fight”, had a pretty catchy chorus that earned them enthusiastic applause. Speaking afterwards with the band’s vocalist and bassist, I discovered that they do not have any albums out yet. I am very keen to hear more from them, as the band clearly shows great potential.
Next on stage was the Chilean-born but Europe-based band Wooden Veins (featured image). The band operates at an impressive level, both musically and in terms of execution, with the members remaining perfectly cohesive amidst the tempo and time signature changes. Their prog-post doom proposal with melodic touches created a wonderfully intimate atmosphere in Escape’s catacombs. At the end, I took home a signed copy of their first LP, In Finitude (2021).
By the time of the festival’s third act, the basement of Escape was practically full. The Maltese trio Hemplifier absolutely crushed it with their particularly slow take on stoner-doom and also some super interesting abrupt tempo/rhythm changes that give their sound a unique freshness. The band, founded in 2021, has so far released only one LP, which came out in 2023.
The aforementioned Mourners Lament began punctually at 22:40. The Chileans launched their set with “Suffocating Hopes,” the very same track that also opens their first EP, Unbroken Solemnity, which celebrated its 17th anniversary this year! True to form, the band has spent over two decades cultivating a profoundly melancholic style of death-doom, adorned with some atmospheric touches. Their show was absolutely masterful, as evidenced by the positive response from the local audience, which included the lighting of a candle in the first rows and the long line to buy some merch after their set. I personally bought a T-shirt and the double vinyl version of their latest album, A Grey Farewell (2024).
Amidst the conversations, I nearly missed the beginning of the headliners for this first evening, Angel of Damnation, but I made it just in time. The Germans are also long-standing veterans with over twenty years of activity dedicated to epic doom. The band, who have just released their latest album, Ethereal Blasphemy, started their set with a flawless sound that stands as a testament to their enduring presence in the scene. With the final notes of their set, the first day of Doom Over Vienna came to a close shortly after 00:30.
Second day (8 November)
It was announced on Friday that, unfortunately, Deumus would not be able to open the second day due to a band member’s health issues. The organisers quickly looked for a replacement and found it in The Devastation. Their occult rock/metal proposal is more than fascinating, and they delivered an excellent show despite the extremely short notice of just one day. In particular, the vocalist (also songwriter and rhythmic guitarist) displayed a confident stage presence, including excellent theatrical flair (not only in the songs themselves but also in the songs’ transitions) and impressive vocal skills, both in her clean voice and her growls. As if that were not enough, the band was formed earlier this year by actual teenagers. For the encore, The Devastation repeated the opening track, “Women in Black Veil”. As the frontwoman noted, this was done in honour of the “Lords of Doom”: Candlemass, Pentagram, Black Sabbath, and so on. And indeed, the chorus features some melodic and harmonic turns that clearly channel the spirit of Candlemass or Witchfinder General.
After hearing shEver‘s awesome performance at the festival last year, I gradually found myself developing a taste for sludge doom. This year, the band commissioned to represent this subgenre (or hybrid subgenre, some might say) absolutely was up to the task. The Austrian band Kielkropf (from Eisenstadt) provided one of the heaviest sonic proposals of the entire festival, with highlights like “Whoremonger”. Later, while chatting with one of the guitarists, he mentioned they have been playing for about 12 years and shared that they used to play death metal in a band called Pain Inc., but eventually moved to sludge “to lower their blood pressure”. He also insisted the band is a “just for fun” project, a fact that was clearly reflected in how much joy they were having on stage.
Right in the middle of the evening’s lineup was Ditch. The Dutch trio, which recently released their second full-length this year, The Traveler, featured a sound closer to stoner rock that was well-received by the audience. By then, Escape’s basement was completely full, to the point where I had to put a foot up on the bar area just to make some space for myself.
The second-to-last act to take the stage were the Swedes of Void Moon. The trio stands out for their brilliantly composed melodic lines with some epic touches and the excellent voice of their frontman, who is also the band’s drummer. While introducing their final song, “The Wolf (at the End of the World)”, they brought up a fascinating topic that relates doom metal to their location in the planet’s most boreal zone. This idea, with its full aesthetic weight linking doom metal to the end of the world (with all its darkness and themes of end times), also finds certain parallels with its Southern Hemisphere counterpart in Chilean bands. One example is what the vocalist of Blackflow mentioned at last year’s Doom Over Vienna: “We come from Chile, the end of the world, to play some doom”.
The 19th version of Doom Over Vienna was brought to a close by the Romanians Clouds, a band with six albums to date who played at full force. Their lineup was so large that it barely fit on Escape’s narrow stage (drums, two guitars, bass, a vocalist handling both clean and guttural voices, and a flautist/vocalist), but the moment they started playing, it was absolutely worth it. Their sound is a form of atmospheric doom/death, at times exploring some funeral doom elements. Undoubtedly, one of the high points of the night was “Chasing Ghosts”, a track that perfectly encapsulates the band’s approach: it addresses introspective themes of the human experience viewed through a lens of profound darkness, built on harmonised guitars, melodic lines with a violin or flute, slow solos (in the vein of Colosseum or Ahab), and a dynamic interplay between whispered, clean and harsh vocals. But the song also expresses the central duality that define the entire festival: the underlying tension between the search for connection with others and the retreat into the self.